Best days to go to specialty restaurants?

Hi all,

When taking your trip, is there any logic to when you typically book specialty restaurants? Do you recommend booking specialty restaurants during evenings at sea or days in port? I'm trying to pre-book specialty restaurant reservations even though I don't know the MDR menus during our cruise. Are MDRs open during evenings of ports?

You just have to use some basic logic really, to get what works best for you.

We just try to spread the meals throughout the cruise, avoid port days where we are planning to be busy or may be in port late, that sort of thing.

We don’t consider things that may be going on onboard (obviously except for on the newer ships where you have to reserve things). Shows are usually on twice if we are interested, and We generally aren’t bothered about other things going on, but if such things are likely to influence you then you may want to find out when they are likely to be. For example, some people may want to go on Norwegian Night Out, which is you can usually predict.

MDRs are open the same times every evening, regardless of whether you are in port. Personally, I wouldn’t let those menus influence your decisions, especially as you can’t guarantee what will be on them anyway.

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I would agree with Kieth , we book ours according to what we have done during the day ,

i.e. if we have had a long excursion and will probably be tired we don`t book a speciality restaurant and just go with the flow and grab something quick .

We tend to book our speciality dining for days when we can appreciate it more ( sea days are good for us ) . As for shows , if your worried there are 2 performances per night so book your dining for early or late , that way you should be able to take in a show as well .

Hope you enjoy x

I would suggest, along with itinerary, booking based on your food intake needs. We theorize that the only time you are ever hungry on a cruise is day 1. So we have often ate at a specialty restaurant the first night, since we are fit to burst the rest of the trip. By the last day, specialty restaurants aren't quite as special. LOL

I usually try to pick evening on sea days, I hate feeling rushed especially if we are late getting back from a port day. There is no right or wrong answer though.

Hi all,

 

When taking your trip, is there any logic to when you typically book specialty restaurants? Do you recommend booking specialty restaurants during evenings at sea or days in port? I'm trying to pre-book specialty restaurant reservations even though I don't know the MDR menus during our cruise. Are MDRs open during evenings of ports?

Don't know there is a "best day" but the later in the cruise, the more crowded the specialty dinning rooms get.

because my cruise only has 3 sea days and i have the 3 meal dinning package, i made reservations for sea days for the dinning

For us it depends on what is going on that day, what excursions we have planned, and who we are sailing with.

We will typically eat in a specialty on the first night because less people are in the restaurant. On the Sun leaving Seward in 2016, we had a reservation after the life boat drill at 8pm. We were the only diners in there. We had a private La Cucina dinner.

I like to book dining on sea days (so I don't feel rushed) and early in the cruise. There have been a couple of times when I've tried to order something (wine, dessert) at a meal towards the end of a cruise that has been 'sold' out.

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We always dine in a specialty restaurant on our first & last evening. We do the first night because the MDR's seem a bit more hectic day one and the last night because after getting most of our packing done, it eases the depression that sets in knowing our vacation is coming to an end.

We also dine once or twice during the cruise but that's based on what's going on & what plans we may have. First and last are always booked as soon as reservations open.

One cruise I planned very well - looked at old Dailies, figures out which days we would be eating lots while off the ship. I had every specialty booked perfectly . We ended up changing all but one .

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Sea days spread throughout the cruise but it is easy for us as we tend to do longer re-positioning cruises with lots of sea days.

Hi all,

 

When taking your trip, is there any logic to when you typically book specialty restaurants? Do you recommend booking specialty restaurants during evenings at sea or days in port? I'm trying to pre-book specialty restaurant reservations even though I don't know the MDR menus during our cruise. Are MDRs open during evenings of ports?

Since you are on a long cruise with 9 sea days, just plan for a sea day (and avoid anything on your canal transit).

Thanks all for the responses!

Since you are on a long cruise with 9 sea days, just plan for a sea day (and avoid anything on your canal transit).

Yes, that's exactly what we're planning to do at the moment until we can see the actual menus at the MDR.

For a different perspective. I enjoy, even more than the food, a more attentive service in a quiet setting. As you have seen in the responses there is a bit of a consensus on the strategy so I would rather go with a port day. Unless it is a cruise with a very south European or south American demographic I feel like most people tend to dine early so it would be port days around 9.30pm for me. Best chance to get a nice dinner.

At least for me I feel more fresh and ready for a good dinner after a long day in port, without to much alcohol and food the whole day than after a seaday that was pretty much eating and drinking and sleeping the whole time.

For a different perspective. I enjoy, even more than the food, a more attentive service in a quiet setting. As you have seen in the responses there is a bit of a consensus on the strategy so I would rather go with a port day. Unless it is a cruise with a very south European or south American demographic I feel like most people tend to dine early so it would be port days around 9.30pm for me. Best chance to get a nice dinner.

 

At least for me I feel more fresh and ready for a good dinner after a long day in port, without to much alcohol and food the whole day than after a seaday that was pretty much eating and drinking and sleeping the whole time.

very good point. I wouldn't say as late as you, but, I do like the idea of eating in special dining rooms after a busy port day.

There is no right answer here. It's totally going to be your preference. There is no reason to think what is best for me is best for you.

Schedule all your plans for the ports first. Then worry about when to do your meals.

We tend to schedule them for sea days with any overflow on port days that we know will be busy. We know that if we are on free time we would rather eat local than on the ship.

If something like a particular wine menu is important to you (such as Pinchos/Bayamo on the Escape), I'd recommend scheduling that restaurant earlier in the cruise. We went to Pinchos on night 6 and out of five reds available by the glass - they were out of all except one. It was good, but next time I'd schedule that restaurant for earlier in the week.

If you want to eat in LeBistro and if you are traveling with a man who does not like

to dress up (wear long pants) plan on eating at LeBistro on embarkation day. There is

no dress code due to luggage still being delivered in that venue . That's what we do.

If you want to eat in LeBistro and if you are traveling with a man who does not like

to dress up (wear long pants) plan on eating at LeBistro on embarkation day. There is

no dress code due to luggage still being delivered in that venue . That's what we do.

Have done Ocean Blue a couple times on embarkation day, and the service was stellar. Being less crowded, our waitress really fussed. It was a great experience.

I like your idea of Le Bistro on embark day as well.

we usually book them for sea days to give us somethign to look forward to. it also means we can plan our eating out during the day a bit better than wehn we are in port and may eat lunch late, etc. or if we just are exhausted, sunstroked, dont care if we eat dinner or not after a busy day in port we dont miss out.

Ditto here: we usually pick sea days as well! Since you are making reservations out 90 days .... check calendar to see if there is a special anniversary or birthday or holiday during the cruise that you may want to celebrate. Last yr , Valentines Day fell during our Panama Canal cruise so I booked a special Le Bistro dinner...and by the time others realized that date all the specialty restaurants were booked!

Enjoy!